Romania risks losing EUR 1.1 bln Resilience money unless it passes Urban Planning Code by July

The draft law on the Code of Territorial Planning, Urbanism, and Constructions, currently stuck in the Chamber of Deputies as the decision-making chamber, must be adopted within the following quarter so that it enters into force by the date of completion of the PNRR (end-September), according to Profit.ro. The deadline for the milestone is end-June, and the Code is designed to enter into force 90 days after its promulgation.

Otherwise, Romania risks losing funds of EUR 1.1 billion, according to a ministerial note consulted by Profit.ro.

The adoption of the project is reportedly conditional on obtaining a decision at the level of the ruling coalition.

"Failure to meet this milestone within the assumed deadline (Q2 2026) leads to the application of financial penalties within the monitoring mechanism, estimated at EUR 1,176,671,663 including VAT," the document consulted by Profit.ro reads.

The project was adopted by the government of former prime minister Nicolae Ciucă in March 2023, and it was submitted to Parliament in April 2023. The Senate has approved it tacitly - that is, without debate - and submitted it to the Chamber of Deputies, as the decision-making body, in June 2023. Since then, however, the specialized committees have not prepared a report for a vote in plenary, although general debates have taken place and the project is in emergency procedure.

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